Lucknow: Development schemes of the Akhilesh Yadav government were confined to advertisements only and there has been a paradigm shift in how the Adityanath government works, UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Nath Maurya today said. He said people of the state have “shown the door to Akhilesh for the next 25 years” and advised the SP leader to chant the name of Lord Rama, saying that doing so will give him some wisdom. “It is good that at least he (Akhilesh) has started remembering Lord Rama. He must continue to do so, as this will give him some wisdom. He must chant the name of Lord Rama for the next 25 years,” Maurya told PTI in an interview. He was responding to a recent tweet of Akhilesh Yadav.

On June 25, Akhilesh had tweeted, “Ram Ram Japna Paraya Kam Apna (Chanting Lord Ram’s name while claiming other’s work as one’s own)” to attack the Adityanath government. The deputy chief minister said, “The previous (SP) government had laid a plethora of foundation stones, and development schemes and projects were confined to advertisements only.” To a question on completion of 100 days of the Yogi Adityanath government, Maurya said, “In the last 100 days, we have given the best performance and result in the interest of 22 crore people of the state.”

Summing up the highlights of the 100-day of governance, he said, “There is a fear among the corrupt and the criminals as they are not getting political patronage now as in the past.” “This is a paradigm shift from what it used to be during the previous (SP and BSP) governments. Action has been initiated against the land mafia and we are moving rapidly to meet the high expectations of the people who have reposed faith in the BJP during elections,” he said.

The UP deputy chief minister also supported the Supreme Court’s suggestion to go for an an out-of-court settlement on the lingering Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute. “We are of the view that the Ayodhya issue should be resolved through talks. If the parties concerned are willing, then the government can facilitate talks among them,” Maurya said.

Maurya, who is also the chief of the BJP’s UP unit said, “It is an honour for UP that Ram Nath Kovind is from the state, and I am confident that he will become the next President of India. He is a son of the soil, and I appeal to each and every voter (of the electoral college) to ensure that 100 per cent votes from UP are cast in favour of Kovind, thereby ensuring his victory.”

On the possibility of organisational changes in the UP unit of the party, Maurya said that it is the prerogative of the party’s central leadership. The party is aiming at a complete sweep in UP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, as it plans to bag all the 80 Lok Sabha seats from the politically crucial state, he said.

“Our target is to increase the party’s vote share from the 2014 tally of 42 per cent to 60 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Apart from this, we will take the achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the central government to each and every section of society,” the UP BJP chief said. Maurya said the party is now taking all programmes of the Centre and state government to the block level.